THE LATE GREGORY SPEVOK: FINANCIAL INNOVATOR

Gregory Spevok, 46, managing director of real estate capital markets for LaSalle Bank, was killed in a car accident in late January on the Kennedy Expressway in suburban Chicago.

“Greg was a tremendous leader,” says Charles Krawitz, managing director of LaSalle Bank's multifamily finance group. “He had a compelling personality and was highly regarded in the real estate finance industry. In addition to being very gregarious, he was an exceptionally bright person and pursued innovation within the field.”

Spevok founded the Real Estate Lenders Association in 1992, a forum for lenders to communicate and establish relationships. “Greg recognized the need for lenders to have a forum where they could communicate openly and to network with each other instead of just being competitors,” says Nate Stearns, managing director and chief operating officer for LaSalle Bank's real estate capital markets group.

Before joining LaSalle, Spevok was chief marketing officer at Realm. He also served as director of originations at Bear Stearns & Co. and was a member of the New York Real Estate Board and the National Association of Industrial and Office Properties.

Spevok is survived by his mother, Catherine; his father, Stanley; his wife, Elizabeth; and three children: Katherine, 15, Eleanor, 12, and Philip, 10.